A vehicle hit by an aerial attack in Idlib province in Syria shown by Edlib Media Center on 11 January. The US has been targeting militants in Syria since the beginning of the year.
Photograph: Uncredited/AP

More than 100 alleged militants have been killed in a US airstrike on an al-Qaida training camp in Syria, the Pentagon said, announcing the second major US counter-terrorism strike in the final hours of Barack Obama’s presidency.

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A Pentagon spokesman, navy captain Jeff Davis, said on Friday the camp in Idlib province had been active since at least 2013.

“The removal of this training camp disrupts training operations and discourages hardline Islamist and Syrian opposition groups from joining or cooperating with al-Qaida on the battlefield,” Davis said.

Obama specifically authorized the Libya strike. It was not immediately clear whether the Syria strike required his direct approval.

The militants killed in the Syria attack were described by one defense official as “core” al-Qaida members, among a number who had moved to Syria early last year to establish a foothold. The official distinguished these militants from members of the group formerly known as the Nusra Front, which is an al-Qaida affiliate in Syria.

Davis said Thursday’s attack capped a string of successful strikes against al-Qaida this month. He said the strikes have killed more than 150 members of the group since 1 January. They include Mohammad Habib Boussadoun al-Tunisi, an external operations leader, killed last Tuesday, the spokesman said.